


A New Chapter is Beginning

by novaartinoisaqueen



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Marching Band, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Other princesses kinda mentioned, and minor characters - Freeform, im just gonna go hide myself out of embarrassment, mostly just adora and catra tbh, stupid gay pining, theyre so clueless i swear, this is just me projecting I’m so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:34:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26862211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novaartinoisaqueen/pseuds/novaartinoisaqueen
Summary: Catra didn’t laugh as expected. Instead, she inhaled a shaky breath and met Adora’s eyes; Adora was surprised to find them shining with unshed tears. “I don’t know if I want to be done.”Immediately, Adora pulled Catra into a tight hug, fighting the urge to tease Catra for finally breaking. Later, she told herself. Now, she just rubbed circles into Catra’s back as she let it out, clinging to Adora. “I know. I know.”-after four years, adora’s high school marching band career is coming to a bittersweet close. at the last competition of the year, the Etherian Super Regional, she reflects on her time, and her friends, specifically one person who she may like more than a friend.
Relationships: Adora & Bow (She-Ra), Adora & Glimmer (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow & Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Catra & Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 106





	A New Chapter is Beginning

It had been...a memorable season, to say the least.

After sweeping every caption at all the competitions they went to that year, receiving top scores from every judge, the Bright Moon High School Marching Band was standing in the terminals of First One’s Stadium along with the eleven other bands that made it to finals at the Etherian Super Regional, one of the biggest marching competitions in the country next to Grand Nationals. They had had good years before, but there was still no greater feeling than knowing when your last performance was, that you had that security and could put all of your remaining effort into that final performance after months of preparation. Plus, this year was different because there was the added excitement of  _ sweeping every competition they attended.  _

__ But Adora couldn’t get her hopes up. She would be over the moon with any place they received tonight, knowing that their last performance had been worth every drop of sweat, every knee scrape from the parking lot practice field, and every sore muscle they had to endure since August. Still, it was exciting. 

It was senior year, too. After their prelims performance, she and her friends had all hugged and cried, well all except Catra, who said only babies cried over something as stupid as marching band. They all knew that that was either their last performance, or their second to last performance, meaning that their season was actually coming to a close, and with it, the end of their high school marching careers. And don’t even get Adora started on how emotional it was after their finals performance, knowing for certain that they would never perform another run again. She was positive Catra had teared up when they hugged immediately after they exited the field, but didn’t mention it. 

Adora...wasn’t quite sure she was ready for it to be over. It had been an interesting four years, and she never would’ve guessed that she would be standing where she was now, wide awake and buzzing with adrenaline, despite it being around ten at night, surrounded by the people she loved. How did four years go by so fast? She could hardly believe it.

“Adoraaa,” a voice beside her said, and Adora blinked, turning to look at Catra. There was a twinkle in her eyes, and Adora could tell a tease was on the tip of her tongue.

“What?” 

Catra snorted, then nodded at the three people in front of them that she had been chatting to, along with Bow, who stood beside her. Another band, though Adora was too mentally exhausted to remember where they were from, despite recognizing their bright uniforms from previous competitions. They were really good, too. “They asked you what instrument you play, dummy.”

Adora smiled sheepishly. “Sorry. I play the flute.”

“I told you,” one of them said to another, then grinned at Adora. “I thought so. You’re the soloist, right?”

“Uh. One of them, yeah.” She felt a blush creep up along the back of her neck. Good thing these uniforms, horrible and tight and unflattering as they were, had high collars that easily concealed most of her neck. With a nod toward Catra and Bow, she added, “They were part of the clarinet quartet in our ballad.”

“I already told them,” Catra said with a dismissive wave. “They asked about our pockets.” She raised a gloved hand to pat the small pocket over just below her collar, meant for their microphone packs. Adora had one as well, along with all the other soloists and people mic’d in the show.

“But you’re like,  _ the _ soloist right? Who was supposed to be that mythical warrior chick?”

“She-Ra? Uh, haha, yeah, that was me.” Adora shot awkward finger guns. What else was she supposed to say? It was weird enough being one of the main components of a ten minute marching show theme, but to have people ask her about it? Even weirder. She was honestly a bit uncomfortable at the attention it had given her.

“That’s pretty cool.” The one that asked the question nodded enthusiastically. “Though I remember thinking in the stands that you didn’t look like a flute player.”

Okay, that helped ease Adora’s nerves a bit. She chuckled. “I get that a lot. I mean, I was supposed to play trumpet, so maybe that’s it?”

She joined the conversation, exchanging names and gushing over one another’s shows, going into typical band mode and over complimenting each other. They were seniors like her, Catra, and Bow, and were all clarinets. All around them, the twelve finalist bands mingled as they waited to re-enter the stadium for awards. Or, Adora guessed it was only six in this terminal, and the other six in a terminal opposite theirs. With six lines of relatively large bands being in a tiny football stadium terminal, it was pretty squished, but conversing with one another and breaking rank a little seemed to help. 

Bow was in his element, talking with as many people as he could, unable to remain in one conversation at a time and spreading a contagious laugh every five minutes. Adora thought of Glimmer, who was colorguard captain and was at the very front with the drum majors, part of the small group that would represent the band whenever their name would be called. She felt kind of bad for her, as she was stuck doing important stuff while they were further back, together and goofing off. But really, Adora couldn’t expect anything less of the head band director’s daughter. 

“—you should’ve seen Adora’s face,” Catra practically cackled. “She didn’t forget to turn it on after that.”

Adora scowled. “Really? Why do you always bring that up?” Forgetting to turn on her microphone during halftime at one of their football games wasn’t her finest moment, and of course Catra loved to remind her about it. She was lucky she was pretty, and that their skin tight uniforms actually looked good on her. How she managed to pull off the gaudy sequined top (that was supposed to allude to She-Ra’s armor of gold and blue and red) and the trailing sash was beyond Adora, who felt like a child playing dress up in her mother’s closet wearing the stupid uniforms. The worst part wasn’t even the itchy sequined jacket, though. No, that would be the body tight underneath the entire uniform, the straps pulling at Adora’s shoulders and pinching her armpits and giving her a very uncomfortable wedgie, but she supposed that was better than having her underwear on display, as the sleek white pants of the uniform were somewhat see-through. 

“Because it pisses you off,” Catra countered, smirking. She bumped their hips together, catching Adora off-guard. When Adora stumbled on impact, the smirk faltered and Catra reached out to right her. 

“I’m so glad my suffering brings you joy,” Adora said, sarcasm dripping from her tone, thinking nothing of their little exchange a moment before, or how their new friends were exchanging glances with one another. She tousled Catra’s thick hair before Catra could stop her, earning her a screech and a light shove. 

They sneered at one another, though it was far from serious, and Adora was the first to break when she snorted. 

“Wait, are you guys dating, or something?” They whipped their heads to Erin, one of the three seniors Adora forgot were still there for a moment. There was a furrow in their brow as they looked between her and Catra. 

There wasn’t any fabric to hide her blush this time, as it lit up her face. Catra wasn’t much better, almost as red as the sequins on their jackets. 

“What?” Now aware of how close she was to Catra, Adora took a small step back. “No! Ah, no way, I mean we’re just friends! Why...why would you think that?” She forced her mouth shut before she blabbered more, something she did when she was nervous. 

Because, well, she liked Catra. A  _ lot _ . They had been friends since childhood, and though they had a falling out at the beginning of high school, they were fine again, and closer than ever. Adora wasn’t quite sure how long she had felt this way about her oldest friend, but she had only just recently figured it out, and it had been a complete nightmare ever since. Not a completely horrible nightmare, necessarily, just...a nightmare where Adora was alone in the way she felt, that they would only ever be friends and nothing more, that she could still be around Catra and touch her but not in the ways she wanted.

It was. Very. Very frustrating. But Adora would rather die than for Catra to even suspect that she had a crush on her. Yet, she also couldn’t help peeking at Catra as she rambled, unable to decipher what staring down at the concrete and avoiding eye contact meant in Catra’s book. Probably something bad. She was probably thinking how embarrassing dating Adora would be, how awful it was for someone to assume they were together romantically. 

Since they became friends again, Adora was determined to keep Catra’s friendship. The years they had spent apart were perhaps the worst in her entire life, and she never wanted to experience that again. Nothing could jeopardize their relationship, especially something as heavy as having unrequited feelings. 

Being a teenager sucked. Adora was ready for when her life would actually make sense and she could get over her stupid feelings.

Their new friends shared a look, which Adora really wished they hadn’t done, and one of them, Shruthi, opened her mouth to respond, but was cut off by the phrase, “We’re moving,” being passed down the lines. 

She and Catra gave a curt wave to them, exchanging good lucks and a promise to meet in the middle of the field on the fifty yard line after they were given the opportunity to break rank following the ceremony so they could all exchange social medias. Catra had to physically pull Bow from his conversation with Sea Hawk, another one of their friends, and a saxophone who was clearly not where he was supposed to be. Adora, putting on her best woodwind captain voice, told him to go back to his section. She received two thumbs down, but Sea Hawk traipsed back to his section, and back to Mermista, who groaned at his return. Honestly, Adora wasn’t sure why she chose to march sax if it wasn’t to be closer to Sea Hawk, but she had learned not to question their relationship over the years. 

Once in the stadium, a large bubble with lights of every color panning around the field in the cheesiest way possible, they were lined up in their normal rows, standing beside the other groups. Adora hated this part the most, having to stand at check, feet together and pointed out, left hand over right resting in front of her, for what seemed like hours. She usually just zoned out for the majority of the ceremony, only tuning in when the announcer decided to actually announce something instead of drone on about how blown away the judges were by every performance, and how every performer in that arena was a winner at heart. 

Finally, they got to the actual placement announcements, setting the thousands of people present on edge with every dramatic pause. Twelfth was announced and rewarded, a photo was taken; eleventh was announced and rewarded, a photo was taken; tenth, ninth…

After fifth place was announced, everyone held their breaths for the outstanding music award. At this point, every row of the Bright Moon band was holding hands. Adora was vibrating, her grip in Catra’s hand grounding her and keeping her from exploding into a puddle of anxiety. 

“...goes to the Horde High School Marching Band!” Well, that wasn’t expected. Adora glanced at Catra, who was looking right back at her, and they mirrored disdainful expressions at the mention of their old school, who was Bright Moon’s biggest rival. Adora wasn’t sure how they even made it to finals; as someone who used to be in their band, they sucked. But she also hadn’t seen their show that year, so maybe they were actually good for once. 

“The award for outstanding visual effect goes to…” Again, Adora’s heart roared in her ears. “The Bright Moon High School Marching Band!” Hell yeah. 

She squeezed Catra’s hand, and Catra shook hers in acknowledgment. Without even looking at her, Adora could tell her nerves were just as on edge as her own. 

Fourth place, third place. And then another very long pause. If Adora had her shako, she would’ve ripped the plume from the top and chucked it at the press box, damn the rules set by the band moms to not touch the feathered tip. Alas, like many other bands, their shakos were left on the buses. 

“The award for outstanding general effect goes too…” This was it. Everyone knew that the band who won this award ultimately won the competition. It was them and Horde left, as much as that shocked Adora. If they lost to Horde...Adora wasn’t sure if she could live with herself. She took back what she said about being happy with any placement. 

Thousands upon thousands of people in that stadium tonight, and you could probably hear a pin drop. At this point, Adora’s legs were rocks, her thighs beginning to grow numb. But she held onto Catra still. 

“The Bright Moon High School Marching Band!” And oh, it was like an explosion, the way their supporters, mainly parents and family, cheered and hooted in the stands. 

First and then second place were announced, though Adora could barely register it. Not that she needed to. They were given the speech that they were all winners in life, and then, as “part of tradition,” were given permission to break rank and mingle. 

The first place Adora went was Catra’s arms, who wasted no time in jumping on Adora, wrapping her legs around Adora’s waist. Adora beamed and spun them around, nearly knocking into Bow who came up beside them. The three of them hugged, then were joined by Glimmer, tears streaming down her face and ruining her makeup and a large gold medal hanging from her neck. 

It was all a blur after that. From hugging as many people as she could, to taking pictures with the phone she hid in her sock, to congratulating other bands and receiving congratulations in return, to trading gloves with a guy who said he was a tuba player (but Adora didn’t really believe it with his height and build), to joining a silly conga line and pulling Catra with her, ignoring Catra’s protests. 

Their band was the last to leave the field, joining at the very center for a heartfelt speech from their directors, then they were the last to get on their buses and leave. 

Once the chaos of changing out of uniforms settled (really, a cramped bus, even a charter bus, was not the best changing area for anyone, especially with even less space to change with their instruments and uniform bags and shako boxes and carry ons and blankets and pillows and...just so, so much), and all marching-related equipment was put below the bus, and the adrenaline of winning the super regional subsided, they were finally able to get comfortable and relax. 

Adora rested her head on Catra’s shoulder as she scrolled through the pictures from that night on her phone. She was surprised when Catra didn’t push her off, instead shifting so Adora could lean against her better. Hopefully, the added thickness of Adora’s sweatshirt hid the pounding of her heart. 

They chatted a little, amongst themselves and then with the rest of their friends, who were all on the same bus. They traded stories, played stupid, meaningless games to pass the time, and laughed. Adora laughed so hard that her sides hurt, and Catra teased her about needing to fish out her inhaler. 

At some point, Adora drifted off to the humming of the bus engine and Catra’s steady breathing beside her. When she woke up, she was sprawled across Catra, who was equally spread out beneath Adora and snoring softly. One bleary-eyed glance out the window told her they were almost home; she must’ve slept at least four hours. Her back was screaming at her for falling asleep in such a position, especially after the long, nearly twenty hour day she had had, but somehow, Catra’s head in her lap made the pain disappear. 

Eventually, they made it back to the high school, the time now close to five in the morning. Adora briefly thought about how this would be the last time she experienced that dazed dream-like feeling that always hit her like a truck after a football game or long competition day. The bright lights of the bus, the gathering of personal belongings and luggage, the shuffling of slippered and crocs-wearing feet, thanking the driver and giving a tired smile to the chaperones. Everyone looked like shit, too, from wild hair pulled out of the required performance braided bun to the ugly clash of the body tight, long white socks, and regular clothing thrown over it all for those who chose to not strip that part of the uniform off, but somehow, that warmed Adora’s heart. 

Instruments were put up, shako boxes were left behind. Adora separated from her friends to quickly put her stuff away and half heartedly wave at her section, tiredly voicing a reminder to set their shako boxes in a line in front of the lockers and take uniforms home to wash, though she was positive a total of five people heard her or cared. She found Catra first upon making her way to the clarinet lockers.

“Sparkles said she had to take care of something in the guard room and Bow’s waiting on her,” Catra explained without looking up from her phone before Adora could ask. She glanced up and scowled. “Why the fuck is your hair still up? I swear, you’re going to go bald before you’re thirty.”

Adora rolled her eyes, but reached up to start taking out the mess of bobby pins and hair ties and braids holding it all together. The gel and hairspray she had put in roughly around six yesterday night had well since lost effect in keeping wispies down. Still, her hair was stiff as it fell from its cage, and she nearly groaned at the pain and comfort her head was now experiencing. As Glimmer once said, “It hurts so good.” 

“There, happy?” She stuffed her hair supplies in a side pocket of her backpack but kept a hair tie to pull her crunchy locks into a loose ponytail. 

Catra’s grumpy visage lightened with amusement. “Very. Hey, let’s start walking and wait in your car. They’ll probably be a while.”

They walked out of the band hall’s exterior door, experiencing only minor difficulty with the traffic as the semis were still unloading and buses were still coming in (perks of being on the second bus out of seven), and lugged themselves and their belongings out to the parking lot. Adora praised herself for scoring a front row parking spot the other morning before they left. 

“You sure you don’t want a ride home? Or you could just sleep over,” Adora offered, leaning against the driver door. Her stuff was safely in her trunk, and now they waited for their friends to show up after shooting them a text. 

Catra yawned and shook her head. “I think I want to sleep in my own bed tonight. Plus, I hate sharing a bed with you. I barely got a wink last night at the hotel.”

Adora giggled. Okay, so she had a bad reputation of kicking and punching and talking in her sleep. But in all fairness, Catra was the one who suggested they share a bed while Glimmer shared with Frosta when they first got to the hotel. 

“I think you’re just looking forward to the big breakfast Glimmer’s dad’s going to make in a few hours,” she teased. “Maybe I should come over instead.” After finally getting out of their shitty foster home, roughly three years after Adora, Catra went to live with Glimmer. Adora had offered her the guest room at her house, as her aunt and grandmother were more than happy to welcome her, but Catra declined. At the time, they had just made up, and it wouldn’t have been healthy, most likely, if they decided to live under the same roof again. Plus, with Adora’s hopeless crush now, she was positive living in the same house would’ve been absolute torture. 

“And upset Mara and Razz that you didn’t come home right away?” Catra raised an eyebrow and took a step closer; Adora tried not to think about it too much. “That doesn’t sound like you.”

“I’m full of surprises.” Oh God, Adora did not just try to wink and instead blinked. Catra snorted at her. 

“Yeah. You’re full of something, alright.”

They fell into silence, turning their heads to watch the trucks unload and their peers trek across the parking lot to their cars. It was easy to single out the freshmen, funny enough, and Adora thought of how that was her three years ago, wide eyed and a complete mess but excited for the future. And now…

“Look at that one kid who keeps dropping everything,” Catra said, amused. “That was so you once upon a time.”

“Hey.” Adora let out a laugh.

“I only speak the truth.” Catra flashed her a grin, but it fell quickly. Adora shifted her full attention back to her at the sudden mood change. “It’s weird thinking that we’re done, isn’t it?”

Adora hummed. “Yeah, it is. But don’t try and make me cry. I’m all out of tears from earlier.”

Catra didn’t laugh as expected. Instead, she inhaled a shaky breath and met Adora’s eyes; Adora was surprised to find them shining with unshed tears. “I don’t know if I want to be done.”

Immediately, Adora pulled Catra into a tight hug, fighting the urge to tease Catra for finally breaking.  _ Later _ , she told herself. Now, she just rubbed circles into Catra’s back as she let it out, clinging to Adora. “I know. I know.”

When Catra pulled back, she swiped at her eyes, though remained in Adora’s arms. Adora became very much aware that their bodies were very close to one another, just barely brushing. 

Catra sniffled, then looked up, and Adora swore her eyes fell to her lips for a moment as she gaped. Oh, they were so, so close right now. Close enough that Adora could lean in and - “Adora?”

If Adora was shaking, she didn’t register it. Maybe it had to do with being up for almost a full day. “Yes?”

Catra definitely glanced down this time, and before Adora could ask, she leaned forward and kissed her. 

Adora’s brain short circuited.

But it was over before she even had the chance to get over her shock and actually close her eyes to enjoy it, to enjoy Catra’s lips. For years, she had dreamed about what they tasted like, knowing that she would probably never get the chance to actually find out, but when she did get the chance, she completely blew it and was too overcome with shock to even remember.

Catra’s eyes widened. She began to pull out of Adora’s embrace. “Oh my...holy  _ shit _ , Adora...I-I’m so...shit—”

“You like me?” Adora blurted out, still unable to fully grasp the fact that Catra had  _ just kissed her _ . 

Catra froze. “That...depends.” When Adora kept her gaze, she ducked her head. “Yes,” she mumbled. “A...a lot.”

And Adora had the audacity to think that her life couldn’t get any better after winning the competition. 

Before she could think of a rational way of going about this very important information, she grabbed Catra by the waist, and pulled her in for another kiss. 

She quickly learned that Catra’s lips were nothing like she imagined. They were  _ better _ . 

Kissing Catra was perhaps the most natural feeling in the world, like Adora’s purpose in life was to do this exact thing. It felt good and right and perfect, even though it was sloppy and uncoordinated due to their shared overexhaustion. 

There was a hand on her face, stroking her chin, and another curled at the base of her neck. If Adora died right now, she would be okay with it. 

Finally, after what seemed like not enough time for their first kiss, they separated. Adora was breathless. The only thing she could do was rest her forehead against Catra’s and whisper, “Wow,” in a dazed voice.

Catra chuckled, shifting to be closer to her. Yep, Adora was in heaven. This was actually happening. They just kissed after Catra spoke a truth Adora had been so sure was only a fantasy in her head. “Don’t ruin it.” 

Their hug this time was much tighter, and Adora allowed herself to trace patterns on Catra’s shoulder as she rested her head in the crook of her neck. Somehow, she managed to say between the hard lines of a dopey grin, “I like you, too.” 

Their last season was over, yes, but a bittersweet ending just transformed into Adora’s favorite memory to ever exist. 

**Author's Note:**

> Y’all,,,idk if ive ever projected so hard onto anything before. 
> 
> If u know me irl, no u dont <3
> 
> The entire time i was writing this, i kept thinking how someone was going to call me out and say I wasn’t in band or something (yeah idk) but i can ASSURE YOU i was in band:(( i have the receipts if u want to know lmao. 
> 
> A few things, just in case there are non-band kids here or band kids that didn’t share the same experience as me: shakos are the dumb hats we wear, and a plume is the feathered thing. The uniforms aren’t your typical band uniforms. They’re like these spandex type material that are somewhat tight on the upper body but have normal straight leg pants, but the entire uniform is that spandex, kinda thin but strong, material. A lot of DCI uniforms are similar (cue me fainting over Santa Clara vanguard’s 2018 show and uniforms). Bright Moon’s band has some money/raises a lot of money so they can have new uniforms that reflect their show theme every year. Adora is a flute soloist in the show, so there’s a little microphone attached to the head joint of her flute, and a wire that goes to the mic pack that she puts in the pocket over her breastbone (they’re the most annoying things ever trust me;;; she hates that thing). This whole competition is based off of bands of America (BOA), if anyone was wondering, and i was going to use grand nats instead of a super regional, but decided not to bc ive only been to grand nats once and it was the longest four days of my life. Very rewarding, yes, but it was a rough year overall. And no, winning a super regional doesn’t mean you’re going to nationals; you need to have money for that asdfghjkk. Adora is section leader/woodwind captain, meaning she’s in charge of all of the flutes in the band as well as all the woodwinds. The way the leader system works, at least where I’m from, is squad leader, section leader, woodwind/brass captain, drum major, and then finally band director. I thought about making adora a drum major, bc damn would she be good at it and she really fits the stereotype, but i also just wanted to have her march!! Bc projection!! 
> 
> I think thats it on the info i had to give??? If anyone has questions that i may have missed to clarify, PLEASE ask i love band and could talk about it for hours without stop, which is very ironic bc i was ready to quit in 8th grade and freshmen year. OH yeah, adora plays multiple instruments bc i said so<3 ik there’s a flute stereotype, but flute’s are also competitive as FUCK and i know very little flutes who meet the stereotype, and just having adora on flute is lowkey funny and not what people would expect from her (like their new friends mentioned FHAEIRJF). And i needed to put her and catra on instruments next to one another so they could stand together at the awards ceremony (which is something they always do, ofc). Oh wait, yeah so how that works is that bands are lined up by section, where I’m from its score order so its like flute, clarinet, saxophone, etc etc and brass are at the back,,,and then in the stadium they’re in horizontal lines of like, between five and seven, and they just make a block. You know what??
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/FloMarching/videos/2019-boa-grand-national-championship-finals-awards/1327218777459260/
> 
> That’s from grand nationals last year, if u want an idea of the whole event. Obviously dont watch the whole thing lmao (its an hour long tho which goes to show how LONG these things drag on, ugh). 
> 
> Again, this was 100% me projecting, and i truly hate myself for that, but here we are!!! Quick explanation for one thing before i forget: some scenes are long and some are short and seem to be rushed on purpose, like the ending was kinda rushed because i wanted to capture that feeling of “this is happening so quickly oh my god what”,,,so yeah its on purpose and not me poorly writing the end or whatever<3
> 
> Okay NOW i think I’m done. I love love LOVE comments and interacting with readers, just fyi. Thank u for reading this mess i really appreciate it. You can also interact with me on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake! I’m very active on there i promise!
> 
> And now, at 2:30pm, i must start my schoolwork. Wish me luck.
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!


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